Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bumper stiffener apparatus for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a bumper stiffener apparatus for a vehicle, capable of inhibiting the formation of a femoral region malposition of a pedestrian when a vehicle collides with the pedestrian.
Description of Related Art
Generally, a bumper stiffener is arranged between a front bumper and a back beam and serves to protect a pedestrian by absorbing impact energy when a vehicle collides with the pedestrian.
According to a conventional bumper stiffener 1, as shown in FIG. 1, an upper stiffener 1a and a lower stiffener 1b are integrally connected through a connection stiffener 1c based on a back beam 2, and the connection stiffener 1c is fixed to the back beam 2.
Accordingly, a shank below a knee of a pedestrian is supported and protected through the lower stiffener lb and the femoral region over the knee of the pedestrian is supported and protected through the upper stiffener 1a when a vehicle collides with the pedestrian.
However, according to the related art, the bumper stiffener 1 is arranged to be fixed to the back beam 2 and further the lower stiffener 1b is arranged to be protruded further frontward than the upper stiffener 1a in accordance with a layout of a vehicle so that the upper stiffener 1a cannot efficiently support the femoral region over a knee of a pedestrian when a vehicle collides with the pedestrian thereby forming a malposition at the femoral region of the pedestrian, thereby aggravating the injury to the pedestrian.
That is, in a case where a vehicle installed with the conventional bumper stiffener 1 collides with a pedestrian 3 (A state), as shown in FIG. 2, a shank 3a below a knee of the pedestrian first collides with a bumper of a vehicle (B state) and at this time the lower stiffener 1b supports and protects the shank 3a of the pedestrian.
However, the femoral region 3b over a knee of the pedestrian and the upper stiffener 1a are spaced apart from each other and thus the pedestrian behaves to fall down toward the vehicle (C state), and at this time the femoral region 3b moves toward the vehicle to be mal-positioned (D state). After that, the femoral region 3b becomes in contact with the upper stiffener 1a. 
Accordingly, according to the conventional bumper stiffener 1, the upper stiffener 1a does not efficiently support the femoral region 3b of a pedestrian when a vehicle collides with the pedestrian and as a result, the injury to the pedestrian is aggravated.
To solve the above drawbacks, there has been proposed a technology that a radiator grill is rotated and moved frontward by an operation of an actuator that receives signal from a sensor right before a vehicle collides with a pedestrian thereby to support and protect femoral region of the pedestrian when a vehicle collies with the pedestrian, however, the technology needs an expensive sensor, actuator, controller and the like, and thus can be applied to only some of expensive vehicles due to its cost.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.